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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25680208">Back to Normal</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skypan/pseuds/Skypan'>Skypan</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Flight 29 Down</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>But in my head its definitely Mel/Jackson and Nathan/Daley, Can be read as gen, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, It leans a little more Melissa/Jackson, This might suck idk, Trauma, kind of</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:41:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,346</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25680208</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skypan/pseuds/Skypan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The group is finally rescued. They can put the island behind them and go right back to normal life... Right?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Back to Normal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“We’re finally going home!” Taylor cheered.</p><p> </p><p>“From now on, everything is back to normal,” Eric agreed, leaning back in his seat and putting his arms behind his head. He drifted off about a second after that, the airplane seats were stiff but they weren’t nearly as bad as sleeping on the hard ground.</p><p> </p><p>Melissa couldn’t help but smile, glancing over at Jackson and letting it grow into a small grin. <em>Back to normal. </em></p><p> </p><p>After being rescued, they had been on Guam for a day or so while getting checked out by doctors. All of them had some sort of malnutrition (as it turns out, fish and bananas are not the perfect diet), but a few had needed extra attention. Unsurprisingly Ian and Captain Russell were hospitalized, but Abby and Jory also had bad enough injuries for them to all be choppered back to America by the hospital.</p><p> </p><p>It made them all feel a little weird to say goodbye to them, but they knew they would be safe, and they would take care of each other.</p><p> </p><p>The rest of them were cleared to go and dropped off at the nearest airport. Their tickets were all ready to go, they had checked their luggage, and they boarded the plane without a hitch.</p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t until take off that they got the first clue that maybe everything wasn’t exactly back to normal again. They all had seats together, Lex in between Daley and Nathan, Melissa and Jackson one row ahead, and Taylor and Eric one behind. </p><p> </p><p>The captain announced their takeoff and put on the seat belt light, so they all dutifully buckled up and prepared to fly home.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as the plane got in the air, Mel started feeling queasy. Glancing out the window, she couldn’t stop picturing the engine smoking. She tried to shake herself out of it, but she couldn’t seem to stop staring at the wing.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, Eric screamed, making her jump.</p><p> </p><p>Quickly she turned to see Taylor trying to shake Eric’s arm to get his attention. His eyes were open, but he wasn’t seeing.</p><p> </p><p>“The plane’s gonna crash!” He yelled out, tears in his eyes. “Something’s wrong with it! We can’t survive the storm!”</p><p> </p><p>Mel glanced around and saw the rest of the plane was watching them. She was sure everyone had heard about them by now, since no one was trying to calm Eric down, but she didn’t think she liked everyone staring at him like he was some freak either. And the whispers really weren’t helping anything.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s the engine…” Eric mumbled. He was gripping the arm rests so hard his knuckles were turning white.</p><p> </p><p>Taylor looked at the others with scared eyes, clearly not sure what to do.</p><p> </p><p>“We’re gonna-“ He was cut off when Nathan slapped him.</p><p> </p><p>Eric visibly shook himself out of it, looking around like it was the first time he was seeing the plane.</p><p> </p><p>“Its okay,” Daley said quietly. “Look out the window, the engine is fine, and the sky is clear. We’re okay, its not happening again.”</p><p> </p><p>Eric slowly looked from her to the window behind her and then nodded his head. “Yeah… Yeah, of course. Sorry, I don’t know what happened.”</p><p> </p><p>“Its okay,” Melissa spoke up. “The flight is putting us all on edge I think.”</p><p> </p><p>Everyone nodded in agreement.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait a minute, did you just slap me?!” Eric burst out, glaring accusatorily at Nathan.</p><p> </p><p>And just like that, everything was back to normal. More or less.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Eric’s episode on the plane should have been the first clue that everything wasn’t the same as before they left the island, but they all brushed it off. Lots of people are afraid of flying, right? And who has better reason to be afraid than them?</p><p> </p><p>So they all shrugged it off, relished eating little bags of peanuts and drinking apple juice, and tried not to get too amped up on the long plane ride back to America.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone slept, leaning on each other just like they had back at camp. Melissa woke to find her head on Jackson’s shoulder, and she didn’t even blush over it.</p><p> </p><p>…Okay, maybe just a little.</p><p> </p><p>After the excruciatingly long flight, they finally made it off the plane. They picked up their luggage pretty easily, went through customs, and then…</p><p> </p><p>“Mom!” Lex cried out, breaking away to run right into his mother’s arms.</p><p> </p><p>Daley followed quickly behind to her dad, then Nathan to his parents, Taylor’s dad was there, and Eric’s whole family.</p><p> </p><p>Melissa was up on her tiptoes, looking around for her parents, when she remembered.</p><p> </p><p>“Do you know who’s picking you up?” She asked Jackson.</p><p> </p><p>He slowly shook his head, looking around with just his eyes. “Probably my parole officer, or maybe someone from the foster home-“</p><p> </p><p>“Cody?” A woman said from behind them. They both turned, and Jackson visibly teared up.</p><p> </p><p>“Mom?” He said breathlessly. He rushed over, scooping her up in a hug. “I thought they wouldn’t let me see you for-“</p><p> </p><p>“They made an exception,” she said back wetly, holding him like she would never let him go again.</p><p> </p><p>Mel turned away to give them some privacy, and almost immediately spotted her own parents.</p><p> </p><p>“Mom, dad!” She called out, running over into a group hug. “I missed you so much.”</p><p> </p><p>“Trust me, we did too,” Her father chuckled.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh honey, we were so worried. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Her mother asked, pulling back to look at her daughter’s face.</p><p> </p><p>“No, I’m fine mom, except I need to make sure to take vitamins, but besides that the doctors said I am totally healthy!” she smiled, looking between them.</p><p> </p><p>“We are so glad to hear that pumpkin,” Her father said.</p><p> </p><p>They continued to talk for a few minutes, about what she wanted to eat first and if she was really okay. Another plane must have come in shortly after theirs, because suddenly the terminal was crowded with people.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly Melissa realized she couldn’t see any of the others through the crowd. A spike of anxiety went through her chest as she spun around, trying to find them. She felt a bit dizzy, and everything sounded far away, she could barely hear her parents trying to ask her what was wrong.</p><p> </p><p>“Daley!” She called out loudly. No answer.</p><p> </p><p>“Nathan! Jackson!” Still no answer. She ventured further into the crowd, fighting her way against the stream of people. “Lex! Taylor!”</p><p> </p><p>“Over here! Melissa!” She heard Taylor yell back. She changed direction and struggled over to where she had last heard her.</p><p> </p><p>Finally she broke through to Taylor and grabbed onto her arms, breathing hard.</p><p> </p><p>“I was scared… I thought…” Melissa trailed off, realizing she had no good reason for why she had panicked like that.</p><p> </p><p>“Its okay,” Taylor said. “I was getting scared too. The crowd kind of felt like the trees.”</p><p> </p><p>“Exactly,” Melissa said, relieved.</p><p> </p><p>While they were talking the rest of the group had made their way over.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you okay?” Jackson asked, trying to look Melissa over for injuries out of habit. “I heard you, but I couldn’t get to you because of the crowd.”</p><p> </p><p>“Me too,” Daley said, Lex’s hand clutched tightly in hers.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m okay,” Mel reassured. “I guess I was just worried about losing you guys.”</p><p> </p><p>The parents looked at each other in alarm, but all of the teens nodded in understanding.</p><p> </p><p>“Well, we all parked in the same lot,” Nathan’s mom said faux cheerfully. “Let’s all walk together.”</p><p> </p><p>“Can we get food on the way home?” Taylor turned to her dad, who nodded.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course princess, why don’t you pick somewhere out?”</p><p> </p><p>“Where do you guys want to go? Burger King?” Taylor asked, looking at the other teens as well.</p><p> </p><p>As the group started to bicker over where to eat, the parents exchanged concerned looks behind their backs.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>So Eric’s flashback on the plane, and Melissa’s anxiety attack in the airport, but they were still back home AND back to normal. Totally back to normal. Right?</p><p> </p><p>After eating together, they all had one last big group hug and went their separate ways, promising to call. They had been given a week before any of them had to go back to school, and no one was even talking about catching up on homework yet.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you sure you’re okay honey?” Melissa’s mom asked for about the millionth time, turning to look at her in the backseat of the car.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m good mom, really. I feel totally fine now, I guess my blood sugar must have been low before or something. I’m just excited to get home.”</p><p> </p><p>Mel stared out the window the whole ride home, watching the landscape pass. It was weird how everything was so familiar, but also felt so alien. Like she hadn’t been here in a million years.</p><p> </p><p>When she got home, she was delighted to be met at the door by her cat, Oreo. She quickly scooped her up, heading up to her room to unpack.</p><p> </p><p>Except she couldn’t. She had opened all her drawers, and opened the backpack… But she couldn’t take anything out. On the island, you had to keep everything compact, ready to go at any moment, easy to find. Mixing these clothes with her other clothes, her normal life clothes, just felt wrong. So she closed the pack again, checking her water bottle level before she even registered what she was doing, and quickly shoved it into her closet.</p><p> </p><p>Out of sight, out of mind, right?</p><p> </p><p>She picked out her favorite PJs and started getting ready for bed, ecstatic to be back in her own house, where everything was safe and comfortable. It felt so good. Almost too good. It all felt just a little unreal.</p><p> </p><p>She watched TV with her parents for a while, before eventually deciding she was tired enough to sleep. It wasn’t quite the bone tired “I’ve been doing manual labor all day and I haven’t slept well since the crash” feeling she was used to, but it was still tired.</p><p> </p><p>She padded her way upstairs, excited to sleep in her own bed. She pulled back the covers, fluffed the pillows, and finally climbed in.</p><p> </p><p>She sighed as her eyes drifted closed… And she didn’t fall asleep. She tossed and turned for a few hours, checking the clock every so often.</p><p> </p><p>“This is ridiculous,” She muttered to herself, sitting up and wrapping a blanket around her shoulders. Suddenly she heard the phone go off downstairs.</p><p> </p><p>Glancing at her clock, she saw it was well after midnight, and knew her parents would be fast asleep by now.</p><p> </p><p>She quickly swung out of bed and tiptoed downstairs, grabbing the cordless phone from its stand in the kitchen, she let herself out onto the back porch.</p><p> </p><p>“Hello?” She said quietly after hitting accept.</p><p> </p><p>“Mel?” Nathan’s voice said back from the other end.</p><p> </p><p>She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Hey Nathan. Can’t sleep?”</p><p> </p><p>“Nah, I think maybe I slept too much on the plane. What about you?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know…” She heard a call waiting beep and checked her phone, but it wasn’t hers.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh hold on, Daley’s on the other line, let me conference her in.”</p><p> </p><p>Mel waited for a minute, hearing a few beeps as Nathan pressed buttons.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Day, Mel’s on the line too.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey guys, Lex is here too, we’re on speaker.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hi Lex!” Melissa said.</p><p> </p><p>“Hi Melissa,” he said, his voice so little. Back on the island, Mel would hold his hand as they walked around, and stroke his hair when he had nightmares but he didn’t want to wake Daley up again. She had sort of adopted him. It had only been a few hours, but weirdly enough she missed him.</p><p> </p><p><em>I miss all of them. </em>She realized with a start. She actually missed them. It had been a month since she had slept by herself, and it didn’t feel right anymore.</p><p> </p><p>There was a beep over the line, jolting her from her thoughts.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, Eric’s on the other line,” Daley said. “Hold on, I’ll conference him in.”</p><p> </p><p>There were a few more beeps.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey Eric, you’re on conference with me, Lex, Nathan, and Melissa.”</p><p> </p><p>“I can’t believe you didn’t invite me to the party,” Taylor said from over the line.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m on a conference with Taylor,” Eric explained.</p><p> </p><p>“That just leaves-“ Lex was cut off by a beep. Everyone checked their phones.</p><p> </p><p>“Its mine, I don’t know the number,” Melissa said. “Give me a sec.”</p><p> </p><p>Switching to her call waiting, she held the phone up warily. “Hello?”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” a gruff voice said from the other end. “Is this Melissa Wu’s residence?”</p><p> </p><p>Melissa grinned, knowing Jackson was teasing her. “Nope, wrong number, sorry.”</p><p> </p><p>He laughed lightly over the line.</p><p> </p><p>“I hope its okay that I’m calling so soon. I wasn’t planning to, but…”</p><p> </p><p>“Trouble sleeping?” She asked.</p><p> </p><p>“How’d you guess?”</p><p> </p><p>“Join the party. Literally.” She said, then hit a few buttons to conference him into her first call.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright Jackson, you are on a conference call with me, Nathan, Daley, Lex, Taylor, and Eric,” Mel rattled off.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey everyone,” Jackson said.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone chorused back greetings, then started talking about the others and wondering how they were doing in the hospital. It was agreed that Daley would call in the morning and find out when they would be okay for visitors.</p><p> </p><p>Mel sat herself down, letting her legs hang off the porch and letting out a yawn.</p><p> </p><p>“I think I know why none of us can sleep,” she said. Everyone went quiet. “They used to say it takes 21 days to form a habit. I think none of us are used to sleeping on our own anymore… Or being away from each other at all.”</p><p> </p><p>There was a beat of silence.</p><p> </p><p>“That makes sense,” Lex said. “We depended on each other to survive for so long, being away from each other makes us feel like maybe we won’t. At least subconsciously.”</p><p> </p><p>“How does he know so much?” Taylor said fondly.</p><p> </p><p>“I miss you…” Mel said quietly.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, me too,” Nathan agreed, followed by a few others.</p><p> </p><p>“So… What did you guys watch on TV?” Eric said, clearly trying to change the subject away from anything scary or mushy.</p><p> </p><p>Mel laughed lightly and slowly lay down on the porch, phone pressed to her ear.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Her parents found her the next morning, after a brief freak out at finding their daughter’s bed empty.</p><p> </p><p>She was camped out on the back porch, bundled in a blanket and with the phone, still on a call, lying next to her.</p><p> </p><p>They shared another worried look before her mom went to wake her up and send her up to bed.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A week, something that felt so long on the island, somehow felt so short now that they were back to normal.</p><p> </p><p>Melissa was weirdly excited for school though. She had talked to the others every day, and they had all met up to see Ian, Jorie, and Abby in the hospital, but besides that her parents had wanted her home.</p><p> </p><p>It made sense. They had already thought she was lost once, that would take a while to get over. Plus it gave her plenty of time to catch up on the homework. No one was making her do it, but she figured once she got caught up, she would be able to help the others with it.</p><p> </p><p>In the blink of an eye, it was time to go back to school. She picked out a cute outfit, packed her lunch, and grabbed her school backpack.</p><p> </p><p>Her parents offered to drive her so she wouldn’t have to take the bus on her first day back, which was nice.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as she stepped from her mom’s car, she felt eyes on her. She could see everyone pointing and whispering, staring like she was a sideshow.</p><p> </p><p>“Melissa!” A voice called, and she turned to see Daley running over.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh thank god,” she muttered, throwing her arms around Daley. “I did not want to go in there by myself.</p><p> </p><p>“Me either,” Daley agreed with a laugh. “Should we wait for the others?”</p><p> </p><p>“Daley! Melissa!” Taylor called out, waving at them and then walking over.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, how’re you holding up?” Daley started to ask, but was cut off by Taylor.</p><p> </p><p>“There’s Nathan-“ They all fell silent, watching him walk over. He was stopping along the way to pick up sticks, and he had a pretty good armful of firewood already.</p><p> </p><p>“Nathan, what are you doing?” Mel said gently.</p><p> </p><p>“Huh?” He looked at her, then over at the school, seemingly just registering where he was. “Oh… I walked to school, and I guess I was just on autopilot…”</p><p> </p><p>Daley grabbed the firewood from him and went over to put it down by a tree.</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry about it,” Taylor said, giving him a quick hug.</p><p> </p><p>“Did anyone do the homework?” Eric said as he rushed over to them, breaking the tension.</p><p> </p><p>“I did, I can help you with it,” Melissa offered with a smile.</p><p> </p><p>“Classic Mel,” Nathan grinned, elbowing her a bit.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, where’s Jackson?” Taylor cut in.</p><p> </p><p>They all looked around. Mel’s heart sank, she couldn’t see him anywhere.</p><p> </p><p>“I hope he’s okay…” She said.</p><p> </p><p>“Hope who’s okay?” A voice said from right behind her, making her jump.</p><p> </p><p>“Jackson!” She breathed out. “Don’t scare me like that, I was worried you weren’t coming.”</p><p> </p><p>“Nope, I’m here,” Jackson said with a smile. “Come on, let’s get to class.”</p><p> </p><p>They all went in together. People were still pointing and staring, but it was easier to ignore it together.</p><p> </p><p>“What did your parole officer say?” Melissa asked quietly.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah man, are they gonna lock you up and throw away the key?” Eric added, less quietly.</p><p> </p><p>“Nope, I caught a lucky break for once. They said being trapped on a deserted island was “extenuating circumstances outside of my control” and wouldn’t count as a parole violation, so as long as I don’t do anything else, I’ll be fine, and no one has even brought up the incident from before I left.”</p><p> </p><p>“That’s awesome dude!” Nathan said. They were all relieved, they hadn’t really talked about it, but none of them were sure what they would do if Jackson was put back in juvie.</p><p> </p><p>The warning bell rang, and they all separated to their different classes. Mel had first period with Nathan and Eric, and second with Taylor. Unfortunately no one was in her art class, or her English class right before lunch. She was feeling twitchy by the time they were released for lunch, like something just wasn’t quite right.</p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t as bad as it had been at the airport, but she still couldn’t wait to see the others again.</p><p> </p><p>Hurrying to the outside lunch tables, she kept her eyes open, but didn’t see any of her friends at first. A few people she knew waved at her, and she waved back shyly, but grabbed an empty table.</p><p> </p><p>“Mind if I sit here?” Jackson asked, plopping down beside her before she could answer.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey,” she said with a smile, getting out her lunch. “How’s your day been going?”</p><p> </p><p>“Its been alright, how about yours?”</p><p> </p><p>“Getting a little tired of all the attention,” She admitted, gesturing with her head at a nearby table. The occupants were talking about them, and they weren’t even trying to hide it.</p><p> </p><p>“You get used to it,” Jackson stated, unwrapping his own sandwich. Without thinking, he held half out to her, which she declined with a shake of her head.</p><p> </p><p>“What do you do when its getting to be too much?”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, that’s easy, watch this,” he turned towards the lunch table and gave them a hard glare. The kind of look that said “I’ve been to prison and I’m not afraid to go back”.</p><p> </p><p>Quickly the entire table turned away, suddenly they were very interested in talking about the weather.</p><p> </p><p>“Wow, impressive,” Melissa giggled. “But I don’t think that will work super well for me.”</p><p> </p><p>“Try it out,” Jackson insisted.</p><p> </p><p>“Um, okay,” she said, trying to school her features the way he did. She turned to him and tried to glare at him.</p><p> </p><p>He watched her for a moment, then broke out in laughter. “Okay, that is not the best you can do. I’ve seen you glare better than that.”</p><p> </p><p>“Its hard when I’m not actually mad!” She said, smiling despite herself.</p><p> </p><p>“I remember the look you gave Eric when he was trying to blackmail you, you gotta channel some of that-“</p><p> </p><p>“Oh yeah, I was pretty mad-“</p><p> </p><p>“I heard my name, what did I do?” Eric said, plopping down at the table with a lunch tray.</p><p> </p><p>“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” Mel assured him, sharing a smile with Jackson as the others arrived at the lunch table.</p><p> </p><p>Everything was finally back to normal.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Or not.</p><p> </p><p>The next day Daley told everyone that she wouldn’t be at lunch.</p><p> </p><p>“What? Why not?” Nathan asked. Lunch was basically the only time of the day when they were all together, and losing that made them all a little antsy.</p><p> </p><p>“Lex had a panic attack in class yesterday,” Daley said. “They had to send him home early. It was because he couldn’t see any of us, and apparently he was convinced we were hurt or lost or something. His school gave me special permission to call the office, so that he knows I’m okay at least.”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you going to call from the office?” Eric asked.</p><p> </p><p>“Nah, I’ll just use the pay phone.”</p><p> </p><p>“I want to come too,” Melissa said.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I want to talk to the little pipsqueak,” Taylor agreed. She had dark circles under her eyes, but no one commented on it.</p><p> </p><p>“Let’s all go, it’ll be better if he can hear that we’re all okay,” Jackson said.</p><p> </p><p>“Should we vote on it?” Eric quipped, causing them all to break into laughter.</p><p> </p><p>Later they all met up by the payphone, taking turns talking to Lex over the phone and pooling their pocket change so they could talk for as long as possible.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m still hungry,” Daley sighed after she finished her food. “My step-mom is worried about how I’m eating, so she packed me a salad. I don’t know what part of “malnourished” she doesn’t understand.”</p><p> </p><p>“Here, take my carrots,” Taylor said, pushing them over. Food sharing was a big thing in their group, no one wanting to let anything go to waste, and not wanting anyone hungry.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey guys, Lex is going to be in a science fair next week!” Nathan said from over by the payphone.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone broke into discussions about when it was and carpooling. It was finally a perfect lunch period.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>(Behind their backs, their parents are worried. They call each other when the kids aren’t home to discuss them.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Nathan has started sleep walking, has anyone else seen that?</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Lex’s teachers are worried, he spends every lunch in the office on the phone now, he never sits with kids his own age. </em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Melissa hasn’t unpacked her bag yet, should I be more worried about that?</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <em>Eric hasn’t either! And he keeps sleeping on the floor…</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>They all want to help their children, but they can’t quite figure out how.)</p><p>
  
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</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Taylor,” Mel hissed.</p><p> </p><p>“Hmm?” Taylor mumbled from where her head was on her desk, her eyes closed.</p><p> </p><p>“Taylor!” Mel whispered a little louder, reaching over to try and poke her without the teacher noticing.</p><p> </p><p>It had been two weeks since they got home, and Taylor was looking worse and worse by the day. She had permanent dark circles under her eyes that she couldn’t seem to hide with makeup, she was falling asleep in class, and her grades were slipping because of it.</p><p> </p><p>“Taylor!” Mel whispered one last time, giving her arm a firm shove.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah!” Taylor suddenly screamed as she woke up, looking around in fear.</p><p> </p><p>“Taylor, its okay, its okay,” Melissa soothed, getting out of her seat to hold her. “We’re okay, you’re in school, we were rescued.”</p><p> </p><p>“Miss Wu, return to your seat,” the teacher said, watching them with an unimpressed expression. “Miss Hagan does not need to be coddled right now.”</p><p> </p><p>Melissa looked over at him in shock. How could anyone be so heartless?</p><p> </p><p>“Miss Hagan, if you’re going to continue to disrupt my class, you are free to go to the office instead. Miss Wu, sit down.”</p><p> </p><p>“No,” Melissa said boldly.</p><p> </p><p>“What?” The teacher asked, shocked. Melissa was a teachers pet, she would never stand up to an authority figure like that.</p><p> </p><p>“I said no. My friend needs me,” Melissa said, meeting his gaze with a glare that could rival Jackson’s.</p><p> </p><p>“Miss Wu, if you do not sit down, you will get a detention,” the teacher warned, trying to keep the upper hand.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine,” Melissa said with a shrug.</p><p> </p><p>“Mel, its not worth it, I’m okay,” Taylor whispered, trying to keep her friend out of trouble.</p><p> </p><p>“No, he can’t treat you like that and think its okay.”</p><p> </p><p>“That does it, Miss Wu, you have after school detention today,” the teacher said, writing on and holding out a slip of paper.</p><p> </p><p>“Fine,” Melissa said, surprised to find that she really didn’t care. She went up and grabbed the piece of paper.</p><p> </p><p>“Hopefully that will teach you to be respectful of others,” the teacher said triumphantly.</p><p> </p><p>Melissa gave him a cold stare. “You can’t cut a break for a girl who almost died on a deserted island, but sure, I’m the disrespectful one.”</p><p> </p><p>The teacher stared at her, open mouthed.</p><p> </p><p>“If you think I’m afraid of you or a detention after what we went through, you’re dead wrong.”</p><p> </p><p>And with that she went back to her seat, reaching out her hand for Taylor to hold.</p><p> </p><p>“Two detentions! You have another one tomorrow!” The teacher spluttered out.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay,” Mel said, giving Taylor’s hand a squeeze.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“Hey Mel, I heard you’re some kind of rebel now,” Eric said that day at lunch as they gathered around the payphone. It had become a tradition for them to call Lex every day.</p><p> </p><p>“You guys should have seen her, it was insane,” Taylor agreed as Melissa blushed a little.</p><p> </p><p>“What happened?” Jackson asked. “I haven’t heard anything about this.”</p><p> </p><p>“Its not a big deal,” she said bashfully. “I just have detention today. And tomorrow.”</p><p> </p><p>Jackson raised both eyebrows in surprise. “What for?”</p><p> </p><p>“She told the math teacher to shove it,” Taylor said.</p><p> </p><p>“I did not!” Mel laughed. “He was giving Taylor a hard time, so I just stood up for her.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m pretty sure saying “I’m not afraid of you” is pretty close to shove it,” Taylor said, leaning her head onto Mel’s shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“What was he harassing you about?” Nathan asked.</p><p> </p><p>“I fell asleep in class again…” Taylor said. Everyone knew she was struggling. They all had nightmares, but hers were bad enough that she couldn’t sleep at night, even with someone on the phone.</p><p> </p><p>“What a jerk,” Nathan frowned.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah…” Taylor said, drifting off to sleep. She always slept better with the others around.</p><p> </p><p>“Are you going to be okay in detention?” Jackson asked quietly.</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll be fine, it’ll kind of suck to not be able to see you guys after school, but I’ll make it.”</p><p> </p><p>“I would try and land myself in detention, but my parents would kill me,” Nathan said.  </p><p> </p><p>“It would get me in trouble with my parole officer,” Jackson said with a sigh.</p><p> </p><p>“I just don’t want to stay after,” Eric said, going to take his turn on the phone from Daley.</p><p> </p><p>“Its okay guys, I don’t want any of you trying to get detention. Just call me tonight?” Mel asked, looking at Jackson in particular.</p><p> </p><p>“You know I will,” he agreed.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Detention wasn’t so bad, more than anything else it was boring. It was just her and a few other kids in school, sitting in a room silently for an hour.</p><p> </p><p>“At least I got my homework done,” Mel sighed to herself as she walked out the front door.</p><p> </p><p>“Good, because I do not understand the science work,” Jackson said, standing up from the front steps.</p><p> </p><p>“Lex always explains it to me,” Daley said, pushing off from where she was leaning against a pole.</p><p> </p><p>“Aw guys, you all waited for me?” Mel smiled, looking around.</p><p> </p><p>“It was the least we could do,” Taylor said, coming over to link arms with her. “The least I could do. Plus it means I got another hour of sleep.”</p><p> </p><p>“Hey speaking of that, I have an idea for this weekend,” Nathan said as they all started walking towards the late busses.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>“This was a great idea,” Mel said. They were all in Nathan’s back yard, sitting around a fire pit and roasting marshmallows.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m going to sleep so well tonight,” Taylor agreed excitedly.</p><p> </p><p>They had two tents set up, a mock version of their camp. Mel knew it worried her parents that she wanted to camp again after everything they had been through, but being surrounded by the group in a safe place, with food, shelter, and water actually sounded perfect.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, I have a weird question,” Lex said suddenly.</p><p> </p><p>“If its about girls, you’re too young to know,” Eric said, making Lex blush.</p><p> </p><p>“Ew, no,” he said, rolling his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>“What’s your question, Lex?” Daley asked.</p><p> </p><p>“So, everyone’s been doing pretty badly, right?” he asked, looking around. Everyone shrugged or nodded. “Nathan keeps collecting firewood, I’ve been having panic attacks, Mel has separation anxiety, Taylor has nightmares, Eric gets flashbacks, and Daley hasn’t been eating enough.”</p><p> </p><p>No one could disagree. They knew all of them were suffering from everything on the list to some extent, but it was all true.</p><p> </p><p>Nathan took the opportunity to put another marshmallow on Daley’s stick.</p><p> </p><p>“So how is Jackson doing so well?” Lex asked, causing everyone to turn and look at Jackson.</p><p> </p><p>“What makes you think I’m not struggling too?” Jackson asked defensively.</p><p> </p><p>“I know you are, but you’re not struggling as badly as everyone else,” Lex said. “What’s the difference between you and us?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well…” Jackson considered for a moment, then huffed out a sigh. “I’ve been going to therapy since we got back.”</p><p> </p><p>“You have?” Mel asked in surprise.</p><p> </p><p>“Isn’t that for crazy people?” Taylor added.</p><p> </p><p>“Therapy isn’t for crazy people, its for people who need help coping, some with mental illnesses, and some with trauma,” Lex explained.</p><p> </p><p>“How does he know so much?” Eric complained, but they all knew he wasn’t actually annoyed.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, the foster family I’m staying with actually suggested it. I kept waking up screaming, so after the second night they found me a therapist, now I go a few times a week. He says I won’t need to go so frequently once I’ve processed the trauma,” Jackson explained.</p><p> </p><p>“That’s not a bad idea,” Lex said thoughtfully.</p><p> </p><p>“Not a bad idea at all,” Mel agreed, reaching over to take Jackson’s hand. “Thank you for telling us.”</p><p> </p><p>He squeezed her hand lightly, giving her a slight smile.</p><p> </p><p>That night they all slept better than they had since getting back home. It wasn’t the tents or the lingering fire smell or the hard ground though. It was just because they were surrounded by each other.</p><p> </p><p>After that, they each tried therapy for varying amounts of time. It helped a lot, and they used their coping techniques with each other.</p><p> </p><p>When Daley panicked because they lost Lex in the crowd at the fair, Taylor was there to remind her to breath.</p><p> </p><p>When Nathan got tackled during PE and got a flashback to being trapped under the plane, Jackson helped ground him and bring him back to the moment.</p><p> </p><p>When Eric had a particularly bad panic attack during a thunder storm, Melissa was there to help him practice mindfulness.</p><p> </p><p>It wasn’t a magical fix, and it wasn’t perfect. Mel doubted any of them would ever be completely back to normal… But maybe that was okay.</p><p> </p><p>Sure she had nightmares, anxiety attacks, and flashbacks… But in return she got a family. And she wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.</p><p> </p><p>So things were finally back to normal.</p><p> </p><p>The new normal.</p>
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